“Part European-style café, part chic, contemporary gallery” is an apt description of the Portfolio Gallery (863 West Hastings Street, Downtown, 604-801-6928). An interest in the West Coast glass-art scene has grown, in part, from the Pilchuk School of glass art in Washington state and the work of Seattle-area superstar Dale Chihuly. Associated with these American trendsetters, Western Canada has developed its own community of glass artists, though they are “regrettably better known in the us than in Canada,” says Portfolio Gallery co-owner Ian Tan.
To witness glass being blown in an industrial setting, go to Robert Held Art Glass, a huge blue corrugated iron warehouse (2130 Pine Street, Kitsilano, 604-737-0020). You can watch the guys from the street, carefully inserting their fledging creations in the fiery-orange glory hole. Inside the building, you can examine the results on wooden racks and the best of the pieces in an adjacent shop. Perfectly respectable “seconds” make inexpensive gifts.
Smaller, but no less notable, Andrighetti Glassworks (1751 West 2nd Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-731-8652) produces some way-out pieces, including gorgeous long-stem glasses, often with a humorous or arty twist. And, though it’s certainly no secret, the New-Small Sterling Glass Studio (1440 Old Bridge Street, Granville Island, 604-681-6730) functions as both performance gallery and well-appointed art glass emporium.
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